SAS Nagar hospital comes to Bathinda acid attack victim's aid

Coming to the aid of the Bathinda acid attack victim, a private hospital in SAS Nagar has offered free treatment to the victim, promising her a new lease of life.

Face of Amanpreet Kaur, 23, was disfigured to take revenge from her for turning down advances of a relative. The woman came to SAS Nagar along with her father on Tuesday for her treatment.

Amanpreet was returning home from her beauty parlour when two men wearing monkey caps threw acid on her on January 31, 2011, in Bathinda.

Police investigations revealed that one of the accused was Amanpreet's brother-in-law (her sister's husband). The woman had allegedly rejected her brother-in-law's advances and snubbed him when he tried to harass her. Angry at being insulted, her brother-in-law allegedly took revenge by throwing acid on her.

Amanpreet's mother, who was walking along, also received burn injuries.

Despite undergoing 13 surgeries, Amanpreet still needed a lot of medical support and thus Fortis Hospital, SAS Nagar, decided to bear the entire cost of treatment, including medical and surgical.

Dr AB Prabhu, who is consultant cosmetic and reconstructive surgery at the hospital, said the victim needed a three-stage scalp reconstruction along with hair transplant and eyelid reconstruction.

The first in the line of treatment is a session on laser resurfacing for superficial burn scar. It was carried out on Tuesday and the patient had been sent back.

Girl's father Kirtan Singh said, “We owned a photo studio, but had to sell it. Whatever else we had we had sold it off to pay for her treatment. Our struggle is also to see the accused behind bars, which sadly has not happened till today. Though he has confessed, he was still given bail and he continues to live in Ludhiana.”

The patient also needs treatment for her eyes and nose, but Dr Prabhu advised to wait for it till the remaining procedures get over.